Fe Review

Fe is an open world 3D platformer in which you play as a fox-like creature, that set’s off on an adventure to stop large creatures known as The Silent Ones from capturing other animals in the world. There’s little in the way of any dialogue or actual story, leaving the game open to some interpretation. There are some wall painting to be found around the world that do give some idea, but again you have to piece it all together yourself.

Much like the story, there’s also not much in the way of direction. Especially during the begging of the game, where a brief glimpse of a Deer-like creature, and its subsequent running away prompts you to follow it. You do gain access to a map a little later that features a small marker that gives you a general hint of the direction you need to be going. A little later after that, you’ll gain a bird companion who can be called to give you another general sense of direction, as it will fly towards where you need to be leaving a trail behind it stopping so far away and ‘drawing’ an arrow with the trail. I found it useful once or twice, but more often than not found that the bird was just as lost as myself and would send me round in circles.

While the world is open, you will need to progress through each area of the world accordingly to be able to gain access to new abilities that will in turn let you access other areas, giving the game a bit of a metroidvania feel. You can also call to animals to get them to help you too. Early on in the game after following the aforementioned Deer, you’ll be able to call to it using a unique mechanic in the game where you pull on the right trigger to sing with an animal, but have to feather the RT button to find the right note to harmonise with it. it will then follow you around and enable things within the world, Deer activate wind plants that can give you a little boost up to ledges higher than you can jump. as you progress through the game you’ll be able to learn these ‘songs’ for yourself. You’ll also find collectable gems, these are used for unlocking other abilities such as climbing trees, and gliding to name a couple. Again letting you explore some of the trickier areas of the game that would have previously been inaccessible.

It’s very charming and thoroughly enjoyable to start out with, but does become a little samey just about halfway through, possibly a little frustrating as some of the mechanics and detection are a tiny bit off. Jumping up trees for one, a neat idea, but because the button to climb the tree is also used for jumping off, it does lead to a few mishaps and the occasion trek back up to where you were after falling to the bottom of a cliff side you’ve just spent two to three minutes scaling. Landing on ledges can also have a similar effect, being a millimetre out can mean the difference between continuing on your merry way, to having to revisit the bottom of the waterfall you’ve just navigated up.

Finding the Silent helmets around the world also give you a glimpse into the world of The Silent Ones, again giving more visual story for you to interpret culminating with how the game ends. It is done well, and does get you thinking about what it is trying to say. There’s some impressive stuff to see with quite a few breathtaking views, all very nicely complimented by the striking art style within the game. The music is fitting and flows with the game, but does suffer on occasion by stopping abruptly.

A download code was provided for this review by the developer/publisher

7.1100

Gameplay7

Graphics8

Audio7.5

Replay Value6.5

Value for Money6.5

Fe

Fe has some good ideas that feel like they're not used to their full potential, although there's a charming world to discover that is sadly short lived. Worth checking out if you like no hand holding and being able to come to your own conclusions about a game's story.